On Friday, August 28, indie developer Ryan Laley posted a video on X to say his Gamescom 2026 attendance was being cut short after discovering that all his team’s laptops had been stolen from its booth during an alleged overnight theft. In the post, the visibly distraught dev called the incident “a huge blow financially and mentally,” and confirmed that police reports had been filed.
Laley’s post earned an outpouring of support on the platform from gamers and fellow developers—including Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red, which offered to “check the Arasaka hardware archives and see if we can send a few things your way.” Laley, however, was just one of a number of developers and publishers that reported similar thefts over the weekend, generating concern about the efficacy of Gamescom security practices.
My #gamescom cut short. Our equipment was stolen last night from the booth.Police reports have been filed.At a loss for words to describe the feeling. Just defeated. Gonna do my best with what’s left of the week. But a huge blow financially and mentally pic.twitter.com/dKpp3Of6dfAugust 28, 2026
Just hours after Laley reported the theft of his team’s laptops, fellow indie developer Tessera Studios made a similar post, saying that they had arrived at their Gamescom booth two days prior to find that their storage had been forced open and robbed of controllers, a Steam Deck, and two laptops which “contained not only our Gamescom demo, but also personal, company, and critical information.”
“The damage that this caused to us was pretty huge,” Tessera Studios co-founder Marcos Neila said in an uploaded video. “But as far as we know, there [is no] insurance from Gamescom, so we don’t really know if we are going to get something in return.”
Publisher iam8bit said they suffered another theft during the event, claiming that on Friday its staff “arrived to our station in the business area hall to discover that our two laptops had been stolen overnight, despite the presence of Koelnmesse security.”
(Image credit: Krisztian Bocsi via Getty Images)
In addition to losing the stolen equipment, iam8bit said the theft could result in the leak of unfinished builds for Petal Runner and Escape Academy 2—the games it was presenting during the show.
“This is hugely disappointing for us and our development teams at Nano Park Studios and Coin Crew Games who worked tirelessly to prepare for this show,” iam8bit said.
While sharing Laley’s post on Friday, games marketing and PR firm Ukiyo Studios said on X that, of the more than 15 events the company attends each year, “Gamescom is the ONLY event we have a dedicated storage room” to protect its equipment after a PC was stolen from its booth in 2024.
“We’ve had something stolen at Gamescom each year. Always chalked it up as ‘the cost of doing a show in Germany,'” Ukiyo Studios said in a follow-up post. “With all these others now reporting their thefts, hopefully Gamescom does a better job with security, but not really holding my breath.”
(Image credit: Hesham Elsherif via Getty Images)
The next day, Ukiyo Studios posted an update to say that “an Xbox controller, drinks, and food” had been stolen from their booth during the intervening hours.
Other attendees and developers have shared their own frustrations with Gamescom security. Dead by Daylight senior community director Eric Pope called the event’s security “an absolute joke,” claiming that a security guard “just walked away” after being asked about after-hours booth security.
“Security at this year’s Gamescom was a farce,” Insider Gaming senior editor Grant Taylor-Hill said. “Several times, I saw kids strolling into the business areas unchecked, waltzing past sensitive meetings and content without being pulled up. They obviously knew they shouldn’t have been there.”
We are aware of stolen hardware and take these reports very seriously and understand the frustration of affected exhibitors. Since many requests reached us, we would like to inform about general security regulations at the event:Uniformed guards provide general security across…August 29, 2026
Gamescom acknowledged the reported thefts in a statement shared via its official X account.
“We are aware of stolen hardware and take these reports very seriously and understand the frustration of affected exhibitors,” Gamescom said.
According to Gamescom, “uniformed guards provide general security across the venue,” while “individual stand security can be booked separately.” Exhibitors, it said, “are advised to insure equipment against theft,” which it says is noted in event terms and conditions.
“All cases have been reported to us and to the police, and investigations are already underway. We also want to ensure that the reported cases are individual cases, which we are very sorry to read,” Gamescom said, “because security has one of the highest priorities to us as an event and to see that indie developers are affected makes us very sad.
“At an event of this size, however,” the event organizers continued, “there will always be individuals attempting to take advantage of the situation. Our security measures are designed to minimize such risks as effectively as possible.”
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